Spearing, A. C., ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Edition of KnT, originally published in 1966, based on F. N. Robinson's 2d edition (1957), with a new Introduction (pp. 1-111), "reconsidered" notes, and a corrected glossary, both included at the end of the volume, much as in the 1966 original. The…
Study guide to KnT that includes an introduction to Chaucer's court culture and courtly tradition and discussion of KnT in relation to part one of CT (GP, MilT, RvT, and CkT). Includes a summary/commentary on KnT, arranged in narrative fragments,…
McGregor, James H.
Leonard Michael Koff and Brenda Deen Schildgen, eds. The Decameron and the Canterbury Tales: New Essays on an Old Question (Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000), pp. 212-25.
The representation of history in KnT is dependent on postplague historiographical views of the Decameron. The Teseida and Chaucer's version of it are tragedies, but with a hope of reconciliation represented in the final marriage.
Tripp, Raymond P. Jr.
Rendezvous 6.1 (1971): 23-28.
Explores the "idea of limitation" in KnT, identifying "statements and narrative situations [that are] suggestive of what we cannot know and cannot say." In some ways like the death of Blanche in BD, Arcite's death is inexplicable and inexpressible,…
Clogan, Paul M.
Medievalia et Humanistica 18 (1992): 129-55.
KnT participates in the Roman Antique tradition by expressing a political ideology found in other medieval retellings of classical stories. The Tale argues for harmonizing passion and wisdom through marriage and rewrites Theban history to conceal…
Alexander, Michael.
London: Longman York Press, 1981.
Summary (without text) and commentary on the GP description of the Knight and on KnT, arranged in sections, accompanied by glosses to Middle English words and phrases. Also includes a brief introduction to Chaucer and his literature; commentary on…
A detective mystery set in the court of King Arthur, featuring Gildas of Cornwall and Merlin as a team of sleuths. The second volume in the Merlin Mystery series; loosely, the plot adapts WBT, with touches from its analogues.
Explores the implications of the Knight's "cutting short" of the MkT, contrasting the characterizations of the two pilgrims, describing the Monk as "comic imitation of knighthood," and observing contrasts and parallels in the wording, details, and…
Neuse, Richard.
University of Toronto Quarterly 31 (1962): 299-315.
Explores comedy and irony in KnT, both extending from the Knight's perspective on Christian chivalric values in a pagan epic setting and his disclosure of the "absurdity of earthly action." Focuses on Theseus's political opportunism and his…
Lucas, Angela M.
Poetica (Tokyo) 35 (1992): 29-40.
Compares the knights in "Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" and Gower's "Tale of Florent" with the knight in WBT to show that the Wife of Bath is an antifeminist character.
Rigby, Stephen H.
Stephen H. Rigby, ed., with the assistance of Alastair J. Minnis. Historians on Chaucer: The "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 42-62.
Presents a historical perspective on crusading in the Middle Ages and provides historical details about the Knight's battle locations in GP.
A novel in poetry that opens with direct reference to CT, and proceeds as a series of tales by various kinds of people: historical tales, migrants' tales, artists' tales, etc. The volume includes a Preface by John Kinsella in which he reports that…
Historical fiction that follows the life of Alice Perrers an includes Chaucer as a minor character and friend of Alice. First published in 2009 in London (Century), without the subtitle.
The artistry of Chaucer's poetry is influenced by his historical role as a "negociis regis" employed to argue, persuade, and "embrace opposing doctrines" in the name of the king. Chaucer's skill as a negotiator can be seen in TC, wherin Criseyde,…
Focuses on the occupatio that addresses Emelye's ritual ablutions in the temple of Diana. Discusses the way Chaucer identifies different modes of seeing--all-inclusive panoramic vision vs. the privileged view of the voyeur--with the Knight's staging…
Payne, Robert O.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press for the University of Cincinnati, 1963.
Explores how "the problems and operations of poetry and the poet are repeatedly raised into the consciousness of the reader" of Chaucer's poetry, adding a "peculiar dimension" to engaging with his works by requiring a "deliberate assent to their…
Davis examines ramifications of the interplay between graphic design and text in William Morris's Kelmscott edition of Chaucer, arguing that the consequent mediation is a precursor to Walter Benjamin's theorized divorce of mechanically reproduced art…
Peterson, William S., and Sylvia Holton Peterson.
New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2011.
Complete census of all known extant copies of the Kelmscott "Chaucer." Explores late nineteenth- and twentieth-century book history, and provides anecdotal and bibliographic details of the "Chaucer."
Robinson, Duncan.
William K. Finley and Joseph Rosenblum, eds. Chaucer Illustrated: Five Hundred Years of the Canterbury Tales in Pictures (New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll; London: British Library, 2003), pp. 274-310.
The essay describes the personal and social conditions that led to the 1896 production of the Kelmscott Chaucer by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Robinson compares preliminary sketches and final woodcut illustrations. Adapted from Robinson's…
Considers the "temporal hybridity" of the Kelmscott Chaucer and the challenge it poses to classification. Neither strictly functional book nor decorative object, the Kelmscott mirrors the Middle Ages' abjectness and highlights medievalism's purchase…
Faulkner, Peter.
Journal of William Morris Studies 19.1 (2010): 66-80.
Compares the aesthetic experiences of confronting two illustrated editions of Chaucer as reproduced in facsimile, arguing that the Eric Gill edition of CT provides greater pleasure to a modern user than does William Morris' edition of Chaucer.
